May 13th--Forest Glen to Redding, CA

Some highlights:

Had a somewhat slow and lazy morning
Had another breakfast of muesli while Adrienne at random snacky things
A pretty dog, belonging to some of last night's revelers, wandered about the campground, digging in squirrel holes, etc.
Gathered TP and took some time to pack
Made another fire
Made some instant black beans for later
Also boiled water
Finally left at almost 10:30am, immediately beginning another day of climbing
Grades were less steep today
Ran into a couple from Nevada
Woman did all the talking, often in Spanglish
Thought me crazy for riding a fixed-gear up that mountain
Offered us vegan sandwiches, but we had plenty of food still
Woman talked about how greedy and Republican dentists are
Continued climbing along Rattlesnake Creek
Reached first peak around 3900' at about noon
Descended around 400' to intersection with Hwy 3
Three more climbs to around 4300', with 150'-200' dips between them
Interesting, shiny rocks around those three climbs
Stopped at the last peak, climbed up to the top of the hill and ate lunch with a gorgeous view over Trinity Alps, Shasta visible in the distance
Lots of descents, punctuated by strenuous climbs
Made another stop at Platina store
Got some chips and an ice cream sandwich while interesting folks came through
First were a couple guys talking about how long it had been since they'd been off the mountain
Then a short guy with his cowering wife sporting a massive overbite
Quirky proprietor
Then comes a Sufi who walks in, dressed in robes and the hat, orders a Mug Root Beer and continues walking up Hwy 36
We go up a steepish hill to Platina Rd., then climb just a bit more and then ride along Platina Rd., which is almost completely flat for 8 miles or so
We find out later, in Redding, that it is an old canal route, used for placer mining
Along the way, we play leapfrog with the mountain men
Gorgeous views over the mountains from around 2350'
Then comes a steep decline into range country, with a few big uphills in between
Cow bells and oakwood savanas
Amazing rock formations in the creeks and along the road sides
Lots of short but steep climbs becoming quite demoralizing
I'm not dealing too well with the heat
Climbs keep coming and Adrienne realizes her pedal is falling apart
Ono and Igo
Getting tantalizingly close to Sacramento River Valley
Crazy twisted tree
Are we there yet?
Mostly even, but long and gradual descent (not easy with my easy gear) once we get close to Redding
In Redding, ask if it's possible to ride over Hwy 299, not realizing that our Hotel is actually near Hwy 44 and I-5, not 299
Try to get over at Hwy 44, but it's a full-on freeway
Cross over at Hwy 299, but then realize the only route on the roads is up a couple hundred feet to Hilltop, so we look for a route along the river
We find the river bike path, with the deafening croaking of frogs, but after the Sundial Bridge, it goes steeply uphill for 1/2 mile to Hilltop.
I curse the lack of a decent bike route to where we're going, and the fact that i didn't take Cypress as my GPS had calculated
We ride down Hilltop and eventually make it to the Red Lion
We order room service and get too much food
Nerves get frazzled
Salmon goes on ice
To sleep